Navigators of Dune – See the cover of Brian Herbert and K.J. Anderson’s last Dune novel

The final Dune – Navigators of Dune

Next year, May 2016, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson will release the third and last novel in their Great Schools of Dune trilogy. The last installment is as called Navigators of Dune, as rumored. After having read and reviewed the previous two novels, Sisterhood of Dune and Mentats of Dune I am looking forward to the concluding story. The novels set in the Dune universe written by Frank Herbert’s son Brian Herbert and his co-author Kevin J. Anderson have always been controversial among fans. Their first trilogy, Prelude to Dune with titles such as House Atreides and House Harkonnen were well received but they were also very different in style and narrative to the original stories. Sadly, the novels afterwards, for a total of twelve, have been a hit-or-miss affaire.

I got excited to learn that the two authors would attempt to end the series of original books with the last battle for humanity far into the future. They split the draft of Frank Herbert’s novel into two which became Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. Yet, the characters never came to life in a way that Frank Herbert wrote them. Somehow the Bene Gesserit sisters were not as exciting. It was as if the two authors were going through the motions of writing about characters without creating an emotional bond.

The cover of Navigators of Dune

Next May, on the 17th, Navigators of Dune will be released as both hardback and audio book. In just over 300 pages both writers will have to figure how to write the conclusion. That won’t be easy, there are plenty of story-lines: ranging from the exploits of the early Corrino emperors, the proto-Bene Gesserit, the Mentat school, Butlerian Jihadist and of course The Spacing Guild. From all the other books we know that some accord was made between some of these factions, but others were destroyed. With each storyline moving towards its end I have not been so excited for a new Dune book since Hunters of Dune almost a decade ago. Next May you can read the review here at SciFiEmpire.net. If you’re wondering whether this latest Dune trilogy is something you may be interested in just read my review of Mentats of Dune.

During the summer author Kevin J. Anderson released the early version of the cover for Navigators of Dune. It already looks good. There has been no word on whether the UK version will look the same. As a parting words I will say that I hope this will be the last Dune novels written. It is time to move on. I can only imagine that the two authors are looking at diminished returns with every new publication as not every fan will keep up. See you back next May for the review!